China and Pakistan signed a wide-ranging joint statement
Saturday on bilateral relations, international and regional
situation, economic and trade cooperation, military cooperation and
anti-terrorism.
The joint statement was signed during Chinese President Hu Jintao's current state visit to
Pakistan.
The statement hailed Hu's current visit in Pakistan as being
highly successful and recalled the history of development of
friendly relations and cooperation between China and Pakistan,
particularly highlighting the importance of relations and
cooperation between the two countries.
It is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples and
conducive to regional peace and development to strengthen
good-neighborliness and friendship, conduct mutually-beneficial
cooperation and enhance the strategic partnership between the two
countries, said the statement.
The statement specified that China and Pakistan will further
strengthen high-level exchanges in various areas and promote
bilateral cooperation in such fields as trade and economy,
manufacture, agriculture, information industry, infrastructure
construction, human resources development, banking, tourism,
defense, anti-terrorism, and international and regional
relations.
Regional and international cooperation
In the statement, China reaffirmed its respect for Pakistan's
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and expressed
appreciation and support for the efforts made by Pakistan to
promote peace and stability in South Asia and to safeguard its
sovereignty and independence.
And Pakistan, for its part, recognized that the government of
the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government
representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an alienable
part of China, reaffirming its full support for China's peaceful
reunification.
The two sides agreed to continue communication and coordination
on regional and international issues in a joint effort to
consolidate solidarity and cooperation among the developing
countries, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in the
process of globalization, and promote regional and global peace,
security and prosperity, the statement said.
Economic and trade cooperation
The two sides believed that broad prospects have emerged in the
bilateral economic and trade ties in recent years, the statement
said.
Both sides decided to put trade in services on fast track to
make FTA (Free Trade Agreement) on goods and services more
comprehensive, it said, adding they agreed to increase their
bilateral trade to over US$15 billion in the next five years.
The two sides took note of the achievements of and potential for
cooperation in the manufacturing sector and decided to strengthen
cooperation in household appliances, automobile and textile
industries, according to the statement.
Furthermore, they also agreed to strengthen comprehensive
project cooperation in the energy sector, including fossil fuels,
coal, hydro-power, nuclear power, renewable sources of energy as
well as in the mining and resources sector, it said.
To facilitate people-to-people exchanges and trade and economic
cooperation between the western region of China and Pakistan, China
agreed to set up a Pakistan Consulate General in Chengdu, it
said.
Military cooperation
China and Pakistan expressed satisfaction on close cooperation
between their defense ministries as well as the two militaries at
various level and in various fields in recent years, the statement
said.
It added that the two sides decided to continue all-round
cooperation including the exchanges of group visits and
consultation on national defense and personnel training.
Anti-terrorism
In the statement, the two sides shared the view that the three
evil forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism pose grave
threats to regional peace, stability and security.
They reaffirmed their commitment to substantive cooperation
under bilateral and multilateral frameworks to jointly combat the
three evil forces, and maintain regional peace, stability and
security.
Hu arrived on Thursday for a state visit to Pakistan. It is the
last leg of Hu's four-nation Asia tour, which has already taken him
to Vietnam, Laos and India.
The visit also coincides with the 55th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan.
(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2006)